


I See A Desperate Man Wearing A Beautiful Mask

by caggiewrites



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Bellarke, F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-29 08:44:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3889921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caggiewrites/pseuds/caggiewrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke Griffin has just started college and is ready to party and study hard! But mostly study. Yet the people in her life seem hell bent on making sure she does anything but, and it is ironic that Octavia is the one who wants Clarke to loosen up the most, while the main reason Clarke can't is because of her roommate's older brother: Bellamy Blake. But is that such a bad thing?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Calm Before The Storm

Clarke had instantly been opposed to the opening of her dorm room to the "Around the World" freshers theme. By the time her roommate Octavia had persuaded her to do it, however, she discovered that the brunette had already bagged the United Kingdom as soon as the whole charade began.

"So, the whole asking my permission was just you attempting to be polite?" Clarke asked with mock annoyance.

Lounging on her bed, Octavia looked up with a grin, "Did it work?"

Clarke sighed, but she was unable to hide her smile. Returning to her textbook, she marvelled – not for the first time since meeting her – how close she was to Octavia Blake considering how long they'd known each other. Only the day after Clarke had received the simple name of her roommate, Octavia had contacted her insisting they meet. Clarke was sceptical at first but Octavia was very excitable and her mother Abby insisted she go. After a day of browsing for furniture to make their dorm look as good and co-ordinated as possible ("Of course it's necessary, Clarke!") and laughing so much they were sure they'd gained six packs, Clarke and Octavia had felt like they had been friends for more like six years than six hours. Cliché, but true.

Just then, Clarke was distracted by Octavia twisting her body in a painful position to locate something under her bed.

"What in god's name are you doing?"

"Well," Octavia said, her voice strained from her position. "I knew I'd persuade-"

"Bully." Clarke corrected.

Octavia ignored this, "Persuade you to do the whole 'Around the world' thing, so I brought provisions days ago."

Clarke gasped, "Octavia! What have you done?"

As if to answer her question, with one last heave, Octavia pulled two stuffed carrier bags from underneath the bed and straightened up, her face the picture of glee. Out of the bags tumbled a Union Jack explosion and Clarke groaned, getting up to inspect further.

"What is all this stuff?" Clarke said, pulling bits of triangle flags on string out of the bag.

"That's bunting, dummy." Octavia replied, rolling her eyes.

"Ohhhhhkay," Clarke pushed the bunting back in the bag. "I can't believe I'm about to say this but how much did this crap cost you? I'll pay half even though I really despise the whole thing."

"Gee, thanks, Saint Clarke," She said, getting off the bed and pulling the decorations with her. "But my brother paid for this, you and I don't pay a cent."

Clarke scoffed, "Still wrapped around your little finger?" Octavia flashed a smile. "You make him out to sound like a stud one day and a teddy bear the next."

Octavia climbed a chair, carrying the vivid bunting with her, "He's both."

Clarke turned away, not in the mood right now (would she ever?) to turn their room into a British Aladdin's cave, "A teddy bear in a leather jacket."

-

Four hours later, the afternoon had gotten steadily darker and proclaimed itself evening and the campus dorms had gotten decidedly busier as girls rushed around decorating their rooms. "Around the world" happened to be an open doors event (Clarke preferred her doors firmly shut), where people went from room to room as they pleased to mingle and each room had a different country's theme. Octavia informed her that doors "officially opened" at 8pm and after that could be shut whenever you'd had enough. Clarke had barely even conjured the thought of shutting their door at 8:15pm when Octavia shut that idea down ("We are going to paaaaaaaaarty, Clarke Griffin, I know you know how!"). This is how she found herself sticking a whopping great big sign covered in the British flag bearing 'OCTAVIA AND CLARKE'S BRITISH HAVEN' (which Clarke had sniggered at incessantly until Octavia's well aimed hairbrush found its mark on her head) on their dorm door.

The door next to her opened, revealing their 'neighbour': a scantily clad Raven Reyes decked in Rio de Janeiro attire.

"Brazil," Clarke commented unnecessarily as greeting to her.

"Oh yeah," Raven nodded, her eyes finding the sign Clarke was sticking up. "British haven?"

Clarke gave Raven a look, "Octavia. Hopefully it's enough to keep people out."

Raven laughed knowingly, "Come on, Clarke! I swear I've only seen you let your hair down once since we've been here and that, whilst hilarious, was you, me, Octavia, Monty and Jasper doing shots in our dorm room."

"I like to have fun! But this isn't my thing," Clarke nodded at Raven's outfit. "I'm kind of surprised it's yours."

"Oh sure!" She pulled a face. "Okay, no, but Munroe's been weirdly psyched about it and it got sort contagious." She grinned. "Speak of the devil!"

Munroe had just hurried up, looking flushed but excited, a bottle of who knows what in her hand, "Hey, Clarke! I'm glad you and Octavia are joining in, we are going to have the two best rooms in our corridor at least."

Clarke laughed, "As they say in Brazil… What is it they say in Brazil?"

Raven followed Munroe into their room, but not before turning around, "They say 'Come to Brazil'!"

"Of course," Clarke muttered to the shut door and vacated back into her own room. Seeing it several times did not help to ease the pain it caused Clarke's eyes.

It was as though a hundred champions of eating contests had stuffed themselves with Great Britain merchandise and puked it all over Clarke and Octavia's room. In the midst of the chaos, Octavia, sitting on the floor engrossed in her phone. When the door slammed, she jumped up and immediately looked guilty.

"You okay, Tavia?" Clarke narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Who are you talking to?"

"Awesome, thanks, Clarke, and no one, thanks Cl-" Octavia began but cut off with a yelp as Clarke ran at her in a bid for the phone.

Tackling her to the floor, Clarke made a grab for Octavia's mobile clenched in her fist, "No one! Okay, okay, sure! Just let me see-"

"Clarke, get off!" Octavia screeched.

Prizing her roommate's fist open, Clarke grabbed at the mobile and rolled away from Octavia, who came up to grab Clarke's waist in attempt to slow the actions of Clarke unlocking the phone easily.

"Ah, text messages!" Clarke laughed.

With a final squeal from Octavia, Clarke glimpsed the screen and almost barked a laugh.

"Aw, Tavia! Why did you think you had to hide this from me?" Clarke slumped on the floor, giggling.

Octavia sank on the floor next to her, "I hate you. Really. I'm moving out, I deserve privacy. And non tackling rights." She held up a finger to illustrate her mock sincerity.

"You do that, I-" The phone buzzed. "Well, look here!" Clarke leaped up and out of Octavia's reach again.

LINCOLN

As Octavia began to pursue, it immediately began ringing and it was Clarke's turn to adopt Octavia's usual evil grin. She pressed 'Answer' immediately, stupidly assuming it was Lincoln, the (dreamy) older boy that Octavia had met a few weeks ago and crushing on like a lost puppy ever since.

"Nice to finally talk to you, Mr Lincoln!" Clarke put on a deep voice.

Needless to say it wasn't Lincoln.

A real deep voice replied, "Lincoln? Seriously? Is this you, Octavia?"

Clarke froze, her eyes rounded in panic, and she whirled around to face Octavia who was mouthing furiously at her, "Who? Who is it? Lincoln?"

Pulling a face at Octavia, Clarke opted for a light tone to contrast the extremely pissed off one at the other end of the line, "Um, correct, this isn't Octavia. Who's speaking?"

Octavia shot daggers at Clarke, "Who are you talking to? If that's my brother and you've said-"

But the voice on the phone spoke over his sister.

"I'm Bellamy Blake. Who the hell are you?"


	2. Big Parties Are So Intimate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke meets Bellamy for the first time in person at the party, as well as a certain someone else.

Clarke had two immediate thoughts upon hearing Bellamy Blake's question. First, was that his voice was decidedly delicious (Octavia would puke) but most importantly, second being oh my god what an asshole. Unless it was just that nobody had told Clarke all these years that she had an extremely menacing voice on the phone, she was fairly certain she did not sound threatening enough to warrant Bellamy's tone of voice.

Therefore in a less than impressed manner, Clarke replied, "My name is Clarke Griffin, I'm Octavia's roommate." A 'duh' was implied at the end of her sentence.

If Clarke had been expecting apologetic, she would have been disappointed.

"Okay, Clarke Griffin. Why did you answer my sister's phone?" Bellamy asked sourly.

"I…" Clarke faltered, looking at the sister in question who had been silently biting her lip. As their eyes met, Octavia began signalling clear I'm not here! signs, waving her arms in the air dramatically. "She's, uh… in the shower."

"Do you make a habit of answering people's phones for them just because they're not there?" He said in the same irritated tone.

Clarke pulled a disgusted face at Octavia who held up her hands in a You brought this on yourself gesture. She didn't know it was possible to dislike someone so much just by the sound of their voice, however gorgeous it was. Irritated herself, she said smartly, "No. But Octavia once told me how antsy you get when you can't contact her."

Bellamy scoffed and muttered something unintelligible, "Well, isn't that nice? You girls having cosy chats about your families in your cosy cutesy dorm room."

Clarke put a hand on her hip, her face quickly portraying to Octavia how pissed off she was. Who the hell was this twenty-something year old man to be so rude to his sister's roommate for no particular reason? "That bad, huh?" She said, not bothering to disguise her tone.

"What?" Bellamy snapped.

"That bad of a day for you to be such a dick to someone you don't even know. Or is this cheerful for you?" Clarke replied.

There was a pause, long enough for the feeling of guilt to start building over her outburst.

Not for long, though.

"I am sorry, your highness. I'm sure you're used to respect from everyone at court, hm, Princess?" He eventually spat, and Clarke's guilt vanished, her mouth dropping open in disgust. "Just tell Octavia I called." And just like that, he clicked off and the line was dead.

An uneasy silence hung over their room, and Octavia watched Clarke's face, waiting for a reaction. Which arrived about 3.5 seconds later.

"Oh my god!" Clarke threw Octavia's phone on the bed and her hands up. "I am really sorry, Octavia, but I am about to bitch about the man who practically raised you!"

Octavia sat down on her bed, crossing her legs underneath her, "C'mon, Clarke, he's not that bad."

Clarke scoffed, "Pssh! You're blinded by love. I mean, what is his problem?" She had begun to pace, but stopped once she realised how worked up she was getting about a thirty second phone call with Octavia's grumpy brother. Speaking of, Octavia was smirking.

"What now?" Clarke said, letting out a long breath.

"Absolutely nothing," Octavia continued to grin.

Clarke raised her eyebrows, "Your face is selling you out, Blake."

Octavia shrugged dramatically, "Whatever! Besides, you think you had it bad? You just sold me out with the whole Nice to meet you, Mr Lincoln stupidity."

Clarke went to sit next to her friend, "Bellamy doesn't like Lincoln?" She said, trying to ignore the lingering annoyance she felt when saying his name.

"Huh!" Octavia snorted. "Never even met him, but he hates him. It's because he's older, and male, and strong, oh and seriously good looking, I mean his face-"

"Whoa, whoa," Clarke interrupted, laughing at the look on Octavia's face. "Is this reasons your brother doesn't like Lincoln or reasons you do?"

Elbowing Clarke in the ribs, Octavia ignored her, "I had a point."

"Dying to hear it."

"Since you dumped me in it, you now owe me." Octavia's wicked glint in her eye was back.

Clarke gave Octavia her severest warning look, "My answer is no, I can tell."

Without answering her, Octavia jumped up and went to her closet, where she rifled through until she pulled out two identical outfits. Clarke groaned as she looked at them, knowing her fate. They were two mini dresses emblazoned with the Union Jack, exactly like Ginger Spice's signature outfit in her Spice Girls days. Octavia was beaming so much it looked like it hurt her face.

"One for me, and one for you!" She threw a dress at Clarke's face.

Holding it up in front of her, Clarke groaned again, "You brought these monstrosities, are you kidding?"

"Bank of Bellamy," Octavia chimed.

"I hate them even more," Clarke deadpanned.

"Awww, Clarke! I promised everyone you know photos, and I intend to deliver." Octavia waltzed around their room with the dress (probably pretending it was Lincoln), humming to herself.

Sighing, Clarke steeled herself for a night of her own personal hell.

-

8pm had come and gone, and the 'Around the world' fiasco was well under way. Clarke had successfully been bullied into socializing with 11 different people she didn't care about so far, most of them obnoxious or nervous guys – there was no in between. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Ginger Spice dress Octavia had brought was so tight she felt like she was wearing a corset, and kept checking herself because she felt so exposed. Octavia had squealed like a piglet when Clarke had changed into it, and dived into doing their matching make up. She was good, and it looked pretty, but it also put Clarke six billion miles out of her comfort zone. To add to the palaver, Octavia had insisted on a photo shoot along with Raven and Monroe before they got drunk and didn't look as pristine; and knowing how hooked up their friend Jasper Jordan was with social media, the photos would be everywhere tomorrow. As a cherry on top, Clarke's levels of lame sky rocketed when she received a text from her mom around half 7 reading:

Have fun tonight, honey! Don't be so shy and try to loosen up. I know you really care about studying as a top priority and of course so do I but this is college and I want you to be a wacky teenager at least once! Love you, mom x

Eh, she tried. Side note, why was her mom communicating with Octavia? Clarke decided she didn't want to know.

At around 10pm, Clarke found herself in 'China', the room of a girl named Roma who was in some of her classes. It was here she bumped into her and Octavia's friend Monty Green.

"Oh wow, it's a wild Clarke in an unusual habitat, what will she do next?" He teased as she walked over to him.

"She will club you over the head," Clarke sighed, dropping on the sofa next to him.

"Not having even a little bit of fun?" Monty pouted.

Clarke rolled her eyes, "Monty, there are strangers making out on my bed right now. I tried to kick them but they were really concentrating on other things." She shifted in her dress impatiently.

Monty shrugged, "Think of yourself as Cupid, and then go get a drink, Clarke. I think it'll help."

"Help numb my senses so more people can make out on my bed?"

"You have a way with words."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, surveying the other people in the room. Clarke enjoyed making sarcastic comments about guys trying to get with girls and vice versa in her head. They all had the same moves and it was really, really tiresome, boring and gross. The only couple she half way didn't find puke worthy was Lincoln and Octavia, partly because they were both so smitten but both trying to play it cool and it was adorable.

"Hey, have you seen Octavia?" Clarke suddenly asked.

"Not in a while. She was with Lincoln, and I think he's cool," Monty replied.

Clarke nodded, "You're right. She's fine."

"You're not the first person to ask, though, and I must say you were a lot nicer than the other guy."

Clarke whipped her head around to face Monty, "What other guy?"

"Uh, tall, dark, handsome type. The very genre of men I envy," Monty yawned, "His voice was about eight octaves lower than mine and he had a face like thunder."

Clarke's stomach dropped, and she flew up off the couch and out of Roma's room with a quick, "See you later" to Monty. There was no doubt that for some reason Bellamy Blake was roaming these halls, and whilst Clarke had no desire to meet the guy face to face seeing as how unpleasant he'd been on the phone, she had to warn Octavia.

Seeing as Bellamy essentially raised Octavia, she had always described him as protective to a fault. Clarke knew two things for certain: one, Octavia was with Lincoln and two, Bellamy would be beyond angry if he found them together. Jokes aside, Clarke hadn't meant to tell Bellamy about Lincoln, and she had seen the latter and Octavia together, whereas Bellamy hadn't, and he had no right to stop such a harmless relationship.

Every person she passed, she asked "Have you seen Octavia Blake or Lincoln?" to no avail. The campus dorms had gotten extremely crowded, and Clarke had to shove several people out the way resulting in death stares and one "Not cool!". After a particularly difficult push, she rounded the corner, marching headlong into a hard torso.

Clarke stumbled backwards, rubbing her forehead.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"You should watch where you're going," a deep, annoyed voice said curtly.

Clarke froze, and almost comically slowly raised her head to see Bellamy Blake in the flesh, looking harassed, handsome (damn it) and extremely pissed off. Clarke waited a few moments before saying anything, attempting to slow down her heart which had begun to flutter around in her ribcage, probably because of the shock.

Removing her hand from her forehead, Clarke raised her eyebrows, "Wow, you're even nicer in person."

Bellamy folded his arms, frowning, "Clarke Griffin? Huh."

Clarke mimicked his frown, "Don't 'huh' at me, Mr Blake, I've had quite enough of your temper for one day, don't you think?"

He was wearing black from head to toe which matched his dark curly hair and likely his heart. He was also wearing an unreadable expression as he stared at her.

"I hope you're not expecting me to get on my knees in apology, Princess," Bellamy finally said, his eyes clearing.

"Don't call me that," Clarke snapped. "What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little old to hang out at college parties?"

"Don't be cute," Bellamy narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm looking for Octavia."

"Why?" Clarke said immediately.

"I don't need to justify myself to you, Princess."

"I said don't call me that."

"What, Princess? I think it suits you quite well."

"You don't want to know what name I think suits you well."

If Clarke hadn't of known better, she'd say he almost smiled. Whatever it was disappeared a second later.

"I don't have time for this, do you know where my sister is or not?"

"Not a clue. Possibly enjoying her adolescence without you looming over her shoulder. Oh wait…" Clarke lifted her chin.

Bellamy looked unimpressed, "Thanks for being annoying and getting in my way, Princess." He made to start down the corridor but Clarke quickly jumped in front of him, arms crossed.

Neither of them said anything, trying to stare the other out. This went on for a full minute until Bellamy heaved a sigh, and simply lifted up Clarke but the waist with both hands as though she weighed nothing more than a rag doll.

"Hey! Get off of me! What the hell are you doing?" Clarke demanded, batting at his hands.

However, Bellamy simply plopped her back down to the side of him, and continued walking without a word. Clarke watched him walk away, her arms crossed over her chest, scowling. She watched him until he turned the corner, disturbed at how quickly she had risen to Bellamy's bait. Intense dislike swelled in her chest and she let out a disgusted scoff to no one in particular.

"Whoa, you look like one royally pissed off English Princess," Piped up a voice.

Clarke turned to see the culprit and caught her breath a little. A gorgeous boy that must have been around her eyes stood grinning at her, drink in hand. Clarke had no idea what made such a guy want to approach her right now, but she was glad he did.

"Finn," He held out a hand. "Finn Collins."

Instead of taking his hand, Clarke took his drink and downed the rest of it, which was completely out of her nature for numerous reasons. People wanted her to loosen up, so maybe she'd give it a go. Bellamy Blake had crept under her skin in the very short period of time she'd actually spoken to him and she wanted him out.

"Don't call me Princess," She said shortly, but then smiled. "My name is Clarke."

That night, Clarke met the man she would grow to love and the man she would grow to hate. Trouble is, she had no way of telling which was which.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to give away Chapter 2 tonight as I literally may as well. I hope you're enjoying it as much as the FFnet crowd, that would be amazing. Come see me at elizasbellarke on tumblr, I'd love to chat and I take prompts woohoo!  
> Caggie

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is already on fanfiction.net but it was recommended that I join the ao3 world! This chapter was a taster and it gets better, I hope you like it enough for me to continue posting! Let me know what you think.   
> Caggie


End file.
